“The media’s gonna say I’m a better player,” he said. “The media’s gonna say I’m higher ranked, that I should be playing great in this tournament or that tournament. But, if I play the way Bubba should play, the way I know I can play, then I should be somewhere around at least the cut. That’s the way I see it.’’

Listen to the way his wife, Angie Watson, sees it.

“I fell in love with him because he made me laugh,’’ she said. “That’s why I think he’s been a success as a golfer. He’s carefree. He can roll with the punches. He’s very demanding of himself in playing a mental game, but he has a great way in dealing with the bad as well as the good. That’s so very important.’’

Listen to Bubba on Angie, a basketball star at the University of Georgia who went on to play in the WNBA.

“She’s helped me realize I’ve got to grind it out,” he said. “I’ve got to practice. I can’t be lazy. Being the professional athlete she was, she had to practice, had to train, had to eat properly, had to do all the things you don’t want to do until you get results. Telling me to pick my head up ... I don’t know what the right word is ... not a bad person on the golf course. She told me I’m playing golf for a living. It’s a dream come true, and I’ve got to act differently. I still have backward steps, but hopefully I take two forward when I take one back, and so far it’s working.’’

Listen to Bubba talk about his late dad who taught him the game.

“The first thing that sticks out when I was growing up, my dad told me didn’t have any money,” he said. “So you’re either going to have to be really smart in school or real good at a sport. I was too lazy to be good in school, so I’m decent at a sport right now. So I got me a free education at the University of Georgia, at Faulkner State Community College. But now I haven’t needed my education right now. The best thing he taught me is I got to be good at something.’’

Listen to Mollie talk about her husband.

“I remember Bubba as a 7-year-old sitting there getting pep talks from his father,” she said. “It was always about living your life, about hanging in there. The more Bubba played golf, the more he ate it up. It fit Bubba’s personality. He liked the kind of challenges the game has, all the little things. I remember his father telling me that handling the challenges that came in being good at golf helped Bubba growing up.’’

Because his mom was in the gallery for the first time this week, Sunday’s dramatic sudden death victory over a game Webb Simpson denied his first Tour win because of a one-stroke penalty on the 15th hole for his golf ball moving as he grounded his club in addressing a putt.

Simpson matched Watson shot-for-shot, putt-for-putt, on No. 2, eagle-for-eagle, in a 20-hole journey that kept a gallery surrounding the 18th green in and out of their seats for a full 60 minutes.

As for Angie Watson, she admits she’ll remember Sunday for two things: Watching Bubba win and meeting the Hornets’ Chris Paul, who spent the afternoon rooting for Simpson, his Wake Forest comrade.

“It was a big thrill meeting one of the best guards in the game,’’ Angie said. “I can’t wait to tell Bubba I’m trying to decide what my biggest memory was. I can’t wait to hear him laugh.’’